The Seljan Brothers Through Rainforests and Desert

The Seljan brothers, Mirko and Stevo, were famous Croatian explorers born in Karlovac in 1870-ties. In January 1899 they set off from Karlovac for a ‘journey around the world on foot’, as they wrote in their travel notebook. You can learn more about their incredible adventures at Zagreb’s Ethnographic Museum.

Photo by Ethnographic Museum

First,brothers went to Egypt and from Egypt, they continued mostly on foot to Ethiopia. During their adventures they performed concerts, Mirko played a violin, and Stevo played flute, Mirko also held lectures and that’s how they earned some of the money to continue the journey.

Photo by Ethnographic Museum

After spending some years in Africa they came back to Europe for a couple of weeks and then went to South America, Rio de Janeiro where they founded the company La Misión Científica Croata Mirko and Stevo Seljan (Croatia’s scientific mission Mirko and Stevo Seljan), in whose name they will contract numerous projects with South American states and business companies. In 1912, the brothers went on a trial expedition in the Peruvian Andes and the Huallage River, after that Stevo went to US in order to take care of financing the expedition while Mirko continued his journey through the jungle. In 1913, Mirko wrote a letter to his mother and brother from the Indian village Vingo Jellache, and since then every trace has been lost. After his brother’s death, Stevo continued to travel and explore Latin and North America.

Photo by Ethnographic Museum

The exhibition presents items, photographs, travel notes, letters and geographic maps of the brothers Seljan with the aim of presenting the Croatian public their research and incredible journeys.